Former Representative for Children and Youth suing B.C. government

B.C.'s former Representative for Children and Youth Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond is seen in this CTV News file photo.

CTV Vancouver
Published Saturday, March 18, 2017 4:18PM PDT

British Columbia’s former Representative for Children and Youth is suing the provincial government for allegedly failing to provide her with 1.5 years of pension entitlement for every year she served.

Turpel-Lafond served as B.C.’s children’s advocate from 2006 until last year. She now works as a provincial court judge in Saskatchewan, which was the job she originally left to move to B.C.

The civil lawsuit was filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia on Friday. It alleges that the government has broken the verbal agreement she had with the government for reimbursement for her moving expenses - which she received - as well as for her pension entitlement - which she did not.

The lawsuit accuses the government of being “motivated by malice and bad faith,” and seeks a declaration from the court that Turpel-Lafond is entitled to the 1.5-to-1 pension ratio in the verbal agreement, as well as damages.